Even the Strongest Need Held
by Kayomitsu
Summary: Rose let Jack sink out of sight. Little did she know a smaller, delicate hand dragged him to the bottom to save his life. But now, Rose has moved on when Jack finds her. She is repulsed by what he has become.Now, he struggles to save his savior. HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

PROLOGUE: Born again from the ice

My life began when Rose let me slip from the door, watching me sink in the crystal clear waters just degrees away from freezing. If it wasn't freezing already. Frozen hair remained so in the smooth water. How was Rose to know that however sluggish my heartbeat was it was still there. But still to this day I thank her eternally. Her perfect timing was all I needed. But her job done I then needed HER.

As my body sank to the unforgiving depths of the ocean out of sight it was grasped by a small dainty hand from underneath. Then pain. My body had been numb for so long the sensation felt so new. But it was there, the fire now raging in my arms and legs as well as my heart. I was so taken by this new feeling that I didn't realize that the hand was not pulling me to the surface but down. Dragging me farther and farther under water until I came to among the bodies still on the deck of the ship.

The pain grew, engulfing my whole body in its red hot anger. But as the time passed I realized that the presence underneath the surface was still there. If I could have moved I would have been able to reach out and touch it. Down here in the silence I could hear only myself. My thoughts knocking around my head like dice in a cup, my heartbeat. So fast. As if it was trying to finish itself off years too early, the blood in my veins rushing by and somehow disappearing. As if there was some sort of hole that let a little bit out every so often. It all got louder. The sound deafening in the now lukewarm water that was my home.

Silence. Back above the water the silence was my enemy. But now, even the silence held mystery of the voices threaded through it. I opened my eyes- expecting darkness to greet me. Like the backs of my eyelids held. But instead I saw gray. It was filtered down in streams and I realized that this must be the light able to reach all the way down here.

Sitting up was not hard. The water guided me up. Surprising that the weight of it all was not so crushing. I could not see the surface from here but I was hungry. I wanted something, not meat, not a drink. The feeling burned in my stomach like an insistent child wanting to play. From my viewpoint I saw a body not five feet away.

I waited for the repulsion to come. It never did. Instead I felt drawn to it like a moth to a light bulb. With more aggression than I had ever had in my life I swam towards the body. Something sharp pierced my lip. I gave it no thought and merely opened my mouth. All of my mind focused on the faceless stranger claimed by the ocean. I tore in. Cold entered my belly. But it was better than the empty nothingness. Sloshy coldness filled the gap that had begged me for so long to be filled. I looked again… the body looked the same save for two small punctures in its neck.

Eyes bore into me and I turned. For the first time I saw her. She was sitting on a fallen board her ridiculously long hair floating around her like a demented halo. Her face was twisted into sadistic smile her eyes although I could barely see them twinkled in the scarce light. Her mouth opened to speak but no bubbles emitted.

"It's much easier when the hearts are beating to help you."

Alright folks... there it is. The birth of our new Jack! Now lets see where my sadistic mind takes us next!


	2. Chapter one

Jack surveyed the bar. Annie was beside him holding onto his arm as usual. After his re awakening in the depths of the ocean she had taught him how to survive as one of her kind. As a vampire. Vampires were myth. Ledgend at most. So he had thought. But he remembered her from the ship. Always a shadow in the lower part of the ship where he had slept he had never thought much of it. Sometimes above the deck watching the water or perhaps drawing with a piece of coal.

Annie had an attitude. That much he had learned. Not like any girls he had ever known, so fiery but underneath there was always pain. She still wouldn't tell him her age. But at the end of the daytime he always asked if he wanted to know. He could sleep. He was glad for that part just being myth. Jack visited Rose every night in his dreams. Annie never slept. At least around him she didn't.

A tug on his arm brought him out of his stupor. A man- dark black hair slicked back and cool brown eyes was standing in front of them.

"Miss I could show you a much better time than this- this boy here." The man grinned. Jack scowled.

"Sorry sir but as I have said before, I'M TAKEN." Annie bit out forcefully before dragging Jack over to the bar. She said they didn't need normal food to survive but that we could eat it if we wanted.

Plunking down a few dollars she ordered some drinks for them. When they came Jack noted that she had ordered the strongest thing there. Must be a bad night for her. He watched as she downed the drink with so little as bother at the strong taste. He downed his own.

"Come on Annie, lets dance." He grabbed her hand and pulled her to the floor. Their act. They were a lower class couple just having some drinks and fun for the Saturday night that was buzzing about their "deaths". Just about a week ago the titanic had sunk. Jack wondered if Rose had made it. If she had he hadn't found her- he had looked everywhere. Everywhere that he could get to that is. The hotels were off limits. Annie said that if anybody recognized him things could get dicey. He had to find Rose when she was alone.

"Fine… be glad I'm not in too bad a mood tonight." She grimaced and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet.

"Your always in a not to bad mood." Jack laughed. Not his real laugh but close enough. She glared. Her caramel skin heating up in anger. He swung her around the floor. Putting a smile on his face like she did. In the back of his mind he thought about them. The pair of them, liars. Lying to protect themselves. From others? Yes. From the past? Yes.

Jack had been a liar before but never to lie to this extent. To cover himself into an entirely new persona.

He watched as Annie smiled prettily. She drew the looks from men wherever she went.

'In rags or riches she always looked beautiful.' Jack pushed the errant thought out of his mind. No way could he be thinking this about his savior. His savior who would not give up her secrets in the dark depths of her mind.

Tonight her dark hair swung around her hips as he spun her around the floor. It was soft. He had touched it before, playing with it when they were acting more intimate scenes.

"Something wrong Jack? You're staring again." Annie asked softly. Her voice carried to his ears. He shook his head. The music started up a slow song as the announcer said that this would be the closing song.

Jack pulled Annie close, falling into the rhythm the band had set. They brushed past other couples and the stared at her eyes. The only unnerving thing about her, but to him they were beautiful. Not that he would ever admit it. They were a pearly blue that always seemed to want to turn gray.

The music ended and they broke away. The only hotel they could go to was the one they were staying at. No one knew them. It was a slum hotel. Everyone else was at a charity house or a nicer hotel for the rich passengers.

They made their way through the streets until finally they came to their hotel, their room had two beds. Jacks was the rumpled unmade one. Annies', as far as he knew had never been touched. But tonight. Annie was tired. Jack knew it. Her eyelids were drooping. They were going slower tonight. Finally halfway up the stairs Jack stopped.

Annie looked at him. Confusion in her eyes. Bending down Jack scooped her small body up and began carrying her up the stairs.

"Jack. Put. Me. Down. I can walk mysell" She trailed off falling into gentle sleep. Jack smiled to himself before letting them into the room. He set her down on her bed and covered her with the blanket at the foot of the bed.

Flipping off the light he himself laid down and folded his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling.

Jack drifted to sleep. Hours later he was unaware that a smaller body had joined him on the bed to curl up by his side, trying to fight away the nightmares in its half sleep.

So thus anyone who dared to look on would see to people holding the other fighting off the demons that came with the hard knowledge. Or so one thought.


	3. Chapter 3

Sometime in the night filled with the slight drizzle of rain- it was New York after all, Annie got up. Finally woken from her dreams with a loud breath. Sitting in the bed she took a look at Jack, his blonde hair was messy from sleep but his face had lost all the lines caused by reality.

Standing in the darkness, she surveyed herself in the darkened mirror hanging on the wall. Her clothing was wrinkled slightly but still there, she blushed at the thought then froze. Why would she care if he saw her? His one love was out there somewhere and he would find her. She would again be forgotten on the side. Smiling at the happy new couple before making a final exit- that would be her, always had been.

Annie found her shoes neatly placed at the foot of her own bed. She put them on quietly before reaching for her brush to straighten out the long locks that threatened to frizz.

The hotel room was small. It meant that there was no hiding if he woke. She moved quickly and silently before finally slipping out the door. She needed to make a visit to a very old friend. The hallway was quiet for a Saturday night. It didn't bother her as much as when she was human.

Hurrying down the stairs she ran to the street and making an immediate right. Out of the low district and into wealth. She slowed to a walk as she reached a cemetery, dark as everything else but holding a sense of prestige. The first few streaks of dawn were trying to edge into the sky. Turning, she walked into the cemetery, through the rows, until finally stopping at one small one.

_Terrance Love_

_May your days be forever bright._

There was no year. There never would be either. His death had not been found out until his bones were found two years after his disappearance. The doctors could not tell the age because of the elements harsh work on his remains.

"Hello, love." She spoke, her voice soft as the wind through the trees. "I've missed you so. Do you remember the days when we were together? Hanging from apple trees until the lunch bell rang." She laughed softly, going back years. "Well, I have turned another person to be like me. His name is Jack. Jack Dawson. And he looks astoundingly like you." She glared playfully at the grave, knowing that if Terrance had been there his hands would have been raised in innocence.

"Why did you tell me to save him Ter? He has a lover. He can't find her. I should probably find her for him. He looks terrible. His only good meal was at the bottom of the sea. He won't eat unless I force him to. I know he is repulsed by himself when he thinks about it but he is at stalemate. Wanting to stay alive to see Rose, but wanting to die to not murder. I saw her two days ago. I followed her to where she is staying." She ran her fingers along the headstone, tracing the outline of the weathered words.

"I miss you Terrance. Why are you opening up these memories from up there? But I have to go now. Jack will worry." She got up, dusting herself off and headed back. Talking to Terrance had helped. He had been her first love. Her only love. They had been much like Rose and Jack. She had been the daughter of the richest man in town. He, had been in her fathers employment. Actually, she remembered, a stable boy, taking care of her horse. They had hated each other at first.

But hate never stayed for them, a dark night and her running from her father in anger had changed that. Terrance had gone out to look for her. Annie smiled softly again, remembering how he had held her, his arms sheltering her from the harsh rain that poured then. Her thoughts turned to Jack. She had watched the two from the shadows. Watched their love rage rampant until finally it was ripped away. Such as life always seemed to.

Smiling she turned to go into the hotel-to be blocked by human chest. Arms encircled her before she could fall. Looking up to her captor she saw Jack, worry lines lessening as he took in her face.

"Hi." She murmured a bit out of sorts.

"Where have you been?" Jack let go of her and leaned against the brick wall.

"Out," Annie crossed her arms. Immediately not liking the way he was looking at her.

"Out? Doing what? Find another man to play with- or did you go back to chat up that man from the bar?" his voice was quiet. Deadly quiet, not just quiet.

"I was out talking to Terrance!" She cried before putting her hands to her mouth-realizing what she had said. Jack smiled and laughed shortly.

"Terrance. Is he worth getting up early to go see or something? There is nothing wrong with doing it in the daytime. Why is he so special?" by this time the two had made it to their room, Jacks voice gradually raising.

Annie opened her mouth but found her throat blocked by threatening hot tears.

"Oh I get it. You want to kill him too like you did me. Forever the same age, sounds great until it happens to you!" Jack was yelling now. Annie hadn't expected the first comment. The tears spilled over. She raised a hand and furiously wiped them away.

"Shut up! You don't know him! You don't know me!" She screamed brokenly before sitting on the bed and taking off her shoes.

"Well maybe if you actually talked to me this wouldn't happen!" She looked at him and took a deep breath.

"Go to the Hilton Inn. Keep hidden." She said before laying down and rolling over. She heard his footsteps leave the room and go down the hall. Then she let go, screaming into her pillow until she couldn't make a sound. Finally her red tired eyes shut for good into sleep.

~Dream~

_She was at the manor, dressed in her favorite deep green and gold dress. A figure, man and horse was fast approaching. She stepped off the road to allow the figure to pass but it slowed down to a stop. Annie felt her heart skip a beat. _

"_Terrance." She breathed as the man slid off the saddle. Flinging herself at him she collided with him. She felt the familiar arms wrap around her and hold her tightly. _

"_Annie, I've missed you." His warm breath kissed her skin raising gooseflesh on its path. _

"_So have I Ter. So have I." her voice was muffled by his shirt but he understood her perfectly. _

_Annie giggled as she felt herself lifted up to the warm brown horse. A warm body settled in behind her and grabbed the reins before urging the horse to at quick pace. _

"_Terrance, where are we going?" She asked looking up at the man. He looked down and smiled._

"_Can't you tell?" his voice was filled with amusement. She looked and indeed could tell. They were going to stream. _

_The stream was rather small, only three feet wide and about two feet deep. The green grass beside it was full and soft however and that's all that really mattered. She hopped down off the horse and heard the soft plop of Terrance. She watched as he sat down by the base of their favorite tree and motioned for her to come over. She did, sitting as close as possible to him. His arm immediately went around her._

"_Annie, I heard you this morning." He said, his voice soft and gentle. "I told you to because you two are supposed to be together. And really, I hate seeing you so lonely and sad. It's time that you smiled again." He kissed her hair._

"_Ter, I miss you so much out there. How can I move on" She asked, a bit unsettled. _

"_Easy as pie, you won't miss me. I'm coming back- kinda until you figure it out and get on with the life you were meant to live." Annie was now confused, very confused. _

"_Terrance, I think afterlife is messing with your head. You're not making any sense." She said before looking at him. _

"_I will. I will." He smiled "Now, you need to wake up. I've kept you here way to long." Terrance leaned in and placed a soft kiss on her tan lips, Annie closed her eyes returning it. _

~End Dream~

When she opened her eyes she was back and a gnawing hunger had taken up in her stomach. A blonde head was laying on the bed beside her. Lifting her hand she ran her fingers through the hair.

"Jack?" She asked quietly. The head shot up to reveal it was indeed Jack.

"Annie." He breathed. Reaching up he touched her face and brushed away the tears that were shining on her cheeks. "Annie, I'm so so so sorry."

Annie grabbed his hand.

"What do you mean Jack? Why are you sorry?" She asked.

"Well, after I went to the Inn I came back and you were dead." Annie raised her eybrow.

"I've been dead a long time Jack." He laughed dryly.

"I tried to wake you for a good two hours. Thinking you were just in a deep sleep." Jack ran a hand through his blonde hair before it returned to the state it had been before.

"Oh," Annie sighed before sitting up straighter in her bed. "did you find what you were looking for Jack?"

"No. I didn't find Rose Dewitt. I found Mrs. Luke Montique."

A/N: ok! This has been on my computer for a while it just needed finished up. So sorry for the lateness! Forgive me? Anyways thank you to my reviewers (even the flame). You reminded me to actually WRITE. Well actually the tv was showing an ad for it to be played tomorrow and it reminded me of you. Anyways. Without further ado, I shall continue writing! Also, I seriously need a beta to get on my ass to write!


	4. Chapter 4

What Jack found

The Hilton Inn was just as its name suggests. Its grandeur was slightly less than the titanic but nobody seemed to notice. The women who'd oohed and aahed over the beautiful staircase in the titanic simply sat in the overstuffed chairs, playing cards and smoking cigarettes.

Jack couldn't help but wonder how they could sit by like cows waiting for the slaughterhouse. They had been like this as the Titanic sunk as well. The undertones of their faces showed the truth and like the artist he was, Jack saw it. Jack saw the sleepless nights, the bitter taste of what their now deceased husbands had drunk. He saw the numberless tears underneath the done up faces. He could nearly feel the hoarse throats from screaming into pillows turned wet lumps.

Sauntering past the large bay window of the Inn he began ascending the fire escape. His agile body, coursing with cold, raw power didn't allow him to make a single sound on the dirtied metal. His senses, now so sharp picked up the scent of Rose. Beneath it however there was something he couldn't place. Stopping on a railing he looked up his eyes seeking the window he needed. There! The balcony doors were opened fully; he could hear the faint murmur of Rose singing to herself.

His muscles tensed before he sprang; landing neatly on the balcony he hid himself in the shadows. Looking into the room from this angle he saw a mirror much like the one on the ship. The reflection in the mirror however caught his gaze.

At first he simply saw the rumpled sheets, the darkness of the room was very oppressing. A small faint shaft of moonlight hit a tendril of hair that was now, it seemed, splayed across a sagging shoulder. The unmistakable red seemed dull in his eyes, but he figured that to others, it shone like stars.

"Come Josephine, in my flying machine," her voice wavered. It sounded so broken. Jack wanted to come out and grab her in his arms, tell her it was okay and disappear into the night with her.

"Jack, I miss you so, Jack!" The mop of hair that was Roses' head threw itself downwards onto what he supposed were her knees. The quiet sobs still made the room eerily silent to him.

Silently, he went to stand in the doorway. Purposefully he made a small noise. She jerked up, his sharp blue eyes took in every little detail of her face. Her eyes, red and puffy still looked beautiful-dead but still so beautiful. His eyes traveled the straight, soft contour of her nose to her bee stung lips. Even now, they cast a dainty shadow on her chin.

"Jack!" the gasp fell from her lips, it was so sharp and sweet Jack didn't think anything else could compare to the heavenly sound.

"Milady," He reached up, tipping his hat at her. "You didn't let go." His voice was high from the elation brimming forth from his chest.

"Who are you?" her chin quivered. Jack frowned, confused at her question.

"You know me Rose. Trust me, it's me, Jack." She drew back.

"No you're not! You're some spirit, sent to torment me for my mistake!" More tears sprung from her eyes as the final word exploded into a sob. He ached to brush them away.

"No, Rose, it's really me! You have to believe me! I'm alive!" Jack was begging now. He was very close to getting on his knees.

"It can't be! You're so perfect! And I looked. The only way you could possibly be alive would be if you were on the Carpathia and we both know you weren't! So please! Go away, let me live my life!" Through her screaming and tears Jack couldn't help but realize she still was beautiful.

"You sure didn't seem to be living your life to me!" Jack watched as something winked in the darkness. Before a pale hand slid into the moonlight the figure seemed to not move at all.

"I'm married now Jack." Her voice, so calm and quiet shot throughout the darkness like a gunshot.

His eyes took in the huge diamond. The single solitaire diamond was set in a band that seemed to be inlaid with very tiny diamond chips.

"Wow, didn't take you long at all now did it? Took only a week to give up freedom." Jack felt angry. Angry she had moved on so quickly. Angry at himself for "dying". Angry at Annie for making a monster of him.

"Then you try being me as I was. Rose Dewitt, called a gutter rats' whore. You would find very quickly that it was hard. Mrs. Luke Montique finds it much easier to get by." The hand withdrew from the light.

"I can see that." Jack turned to leave. "You couldn't handle the freedom could you. No one to judge what you did because nothing was expected from you. No one to tell you how to talk or what to say."

"It was a stupid decision Jack to try to be different. I've known this for too long." She gestured around the room.

" I see. Wait, that's a lie. No I don't see. I probably never will." Jack looked at her sadly, "I've never know a life of luxury. I probably never will" With that he left, fleeing into the night, down the stairs and through the streets.

Jack didn't go home. Instead he raced to the docks, wanting only to hear the quiet roar of the waves.

The moon, still in patches lit up peaks of the waves on their rushed way forward. There was no sand. Only boulders made into oily charcoal by moonlight. Jack seated himself on the largest one after gathering a few smaller rocks.

Plop! The largest rock hit the water, still making little waves. The small ripples overtaken by the waves pushed forward by some impatient force.

There was no room for him in Roses new life anymore. Jack sighed as he began to wonder how she had pushed him out so quickly. His heart surged- there was no way she could have moved on that quickly! The women in Paris had been insightful on that. His long hours drawing them had proved to be spent talking when he needed a break. Rose could deny his presence all she wanted. He would make for himself a place with her. She was his final living breath, she would be his now, for eternity.

A small movement to his left made his head snap towards the sound. A man, far past the word drunk was bending over a crevice in the rocks. A flash of white.

Curiosity peaked, Jack crept forward until he could see it all clearly.

Erratic heart beats thudded into the night, blood was racing feverishly through veins of the milky white skin shown between the crevice.

A belt lied on the ground, a shred of white fabric lying at the base of the bigger rock. Short quick breaths sounding like words. Begging for life. Blood. A hand flashed out, its nails nicking the skin of the drunk deep enough for a drop of blood to appear. Its scent played with Jacks nose. Taunted his throat. Awakened his belly. The scent flowed through his body, down to his feet, up his back, crawling along the dip of his spine before implanting itself in his brain. His humanity had been torn in two tonight.

Tonight, he felt it. He felt the pull of the Titanic. The slow, dark madness of Annie, of himself in that freezing water. He saw Rose, felt her soft red lips at his collarbone. Begging him to give in. To find the past. To do what he must to slake his hunger. To feel the sweet, dark pleasure of feeling the life pass from underneath his fingertips no longer smudged with charcoal to settle in his stomach before flowing throughout his body, intoxicating him. Feeding him, bringing him pleasure no mortal pleasure could ever hope to compare to.

Another tear in the dress. The soft lips pressed harder, more firmly. He could feel her hands grasp his, tugging him towards the man. The taste of alcohol in the bloodstream brought a strange sort of tanginess that tingled on his tongue.

A scream. The woman had seen him. His body jerked forward. Pulled forward by invisible hands as he gripped the hands back.

A/N okay this was sorta hard! I wanted to set right a few questions this story has brought up. I didn't add in the feeding just cuz well… after that description well the actual thing in this chapter seemed boring. Well Adios! I gotta go plan my next chappy!


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